What would you do?

Imagine a situation in which you and your family are forced to dodge bombs over a period of eight years.

Imagine living in fear knowing that when the alarm sounds you have 30 seconds to reach safety.

This is the case for the citizens of southern Israeli cities. For the past eight years, Hamas, a terrorist organization based in the Gaza Strip, have been shooting missiles at civilians with the intent to kill. During the same period of time, Israeli diplomats have tried to talk to the Hamas with no success. In an act of self-defense, Israel has begun a military operation in Gaza to stop the shooting and bring peace to the region.

The Gaza strip has been ruled by Hamas for the last three years. Hamas was elected into power by the “innocent” people of Gaza. The sole purpose of Hamas is to kill.

Consequently, they are not interested in peace. Their idea of peace is that all of the citizens of Israel will either die or move to a different country.

This terrorist organization that has been elected by the people has been killing innocent people everyday, and no one has said a word. Interestingly, now that Israel has been killing Hamas leaders in an act of self-defense and in attempt to make citizens safe, it becomes a crime against humanity?

Hamas leaders hide in areas of high civilian density, they shoot missiles from schools and they walk in the streets carrying babies in their hands.

The Hamas uses these tactics so they can claim that Israel is killing innocent people when the Israeli military is, in fact, solely aiming for Hamas militants.

The Israeli military does not intend to kill innocent people and tries extremely hard to limit the deaths of innocent people, even if that means an increase in Israeli casualties. Unfortunately, mistakes still happen and innocent people still die.

For the past eight years, Hamas has been a major threat to the Jewish state of Israel, its interests and its people. This is the same terrorist organization that was elected three years ago into power in the Gaza Strip and the same terrorist organization that has continued to shoot missiles into Israel during times of ceasefire.

I now ask what you would do if this was the case in your life. Imagine living with the possibility of a terrorist missile screaming toward your home at any time. Imagine constantly living in fear, knowing that from the time you started reading this paragraph until the time it took you to get to this line, is all the time you have to reach for safety.